U S troops patrol restive Iraq Shi'ite city

Diwaniya, Iraq, Sep 3 (Reuters) U S troops patrolled through Diwaniya today in a show of armoured force a week after the Iraqi army lost at least 20 soldiers fighting Shi'ite militiamen in the city.

Residents heard occasional gunshots but it was unclear who was firing. They saw no direct clashes between troops and gunmen. Soldiers could be seen taking up defensive positions alongside a main road and at least one Abrams main battle tank as well as Bradley fighting vehicles were also out in the town.

The U S military had no immediate comment. It had declined comment last week when Iraqi officers said a U S force with some 70 vehicles arrived at a Polish-run base in the mainly Shi'ite city, 180 km south of Baghdad.

Last Monday's battle between Iraqi troops and fighters from radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army left up to 80 dead by official accounts, though militia leaders denied an army estimate they lost 50 men in 12 hours of fighting.

Brought to an end by talks in the nearby Shi'ite religious centre of Najaf, it highlighted the struggles for power among rival factions in the majority Shi'ite community's southern heartlands and provided a significant test for the new, US-trained Iraqi army's combat ability and loyalties.

US forces said they provided back-up and a Polish attack helicopter was forced down by gunfire. The Iraqi army said some of its soldiers were ''executed'' when they ran out of bullets.

The US commander in Iraq said last week the Iraqis performed ''quite well'' in Diwaniya. The build-up of the Iraqi army is key to US plans to withdraw.

Sadr led two uprisings against the occupation across the south in 2004. US forces crushed those but since then foreign troops have been only a thin presence in much of the region.

An official at Sadr's office in Diwaniya said today that the youthful cleric, a rising power backed especially by the poor and with influential allies in Iran, had ordered his followers not to go out armed and to avoid any confrontation with the Americans, even if U.S. troops raided their homes.

REUTERS AB HT2122